Action #975 discussion (spoilers!!!!)

[_Feely_]

Or...and this is a truly fascinating possibility, Mxy and his relationships with various Supermen across realities isn't exactly 'linear'. He might show up in his Golden Age avatar one day and fight Golden Age Superman, the next day he'd mess around with the DCAU Superman, then after that pop round to the Silver Age for some more shenanigans...

Yup.

He's a Fifth-dimensional being.

Where he's from, there is no concept of 'linear'.

[Last Son of Krypton]

nice find and an interesting read LSoK. I'm still worried that Mr. Oz is going to have a much smaller role than advertised. I really just want them to give us a name at this point, or a glimpse at his endgame. If he's basically just observing the situation behind the scenes, that would be disappointing.

I think they're saving Mr. OZ for later (2018?). Superman will be busy with Mxy and the Superman Revenge Squad in the upcoming weeks/months.

[TheCape]

They are saving Mr.Oz for later, the solicit of AC 977 said that Clark still don't know about who he is.

[mr_crisp]

I feel like this issue is a bit of commentary on the nature of grim and gritty comics. When you have those why do you need a goofy character.

[Kevin Street]

He's a Fifth-dimensional being.

Where he's from, there is no concept of 'linear'.

Yeah. The Mxyzptlks could be like parallel processors in a computer, or an electron that's in multiple places at once, or more likely something we can't understand no matter how hard we try. They're all him, even if they seem different to us. I guess all that matters is that the Mxyzptlk in this story just got out of prison and is feeling neglected.

I kind of understand his point of view, even if it seems insane to us four-dimensional types. Superman should have known that no matter what parallel Earth he moved to, or however far he traveled in time, Mxyzptlk would find him and continue the games. All Supermen are bedeviled by Mxyzptlk. When this Superman got a ten year reprieve he should have known that something was wrong.

Once the reveal was that it was Mxy, it's like all the oxygen went out of the room and was replaced by laughing gas. As Mxy sort of points out, he's been around a long time. He loves Superman. Sure, he antagonizes Superman, but it's to make mischief. At no point do I feel like even within the fictional universe and putting aside what we know about real world editorial directions and such that he's not going to give Jon back. He's going to give Jon back. He'll mess with Superman for a while and then Jon goes back. Mxy is not Superboy Prime. Mxy reminds me of my dog when he was a puppy- yeah, he'd push limits, he'd nip at me, he'd screw with me; but it was all a big game for him; at the end the day, he wasn't going to maul me to death, I was his human.

To me, Mxy is best in a comic relief issue where Superman gets really mad at funny antics and then occasionally, because Mxy is a 5th dimension imp, he says something profound and cosmic and thought provoking that evokes a sense of wonder. What Mxy does not evoke, for me, is dramatic tension.

That's a really good point. Two weeks ago in Superman #18, we had no reason to think Jon was still alive at all. Now we know he's alive, and even Mxyzptlk is counting on Superman to show up eventually and end the game.

I had a somewhat different problem with "Clark Kent" being Mxyzptlk. For me the mystery was about trying to figure out why "Clark" acted the way he did: the obsession with Genetricron and his growing obsession with Lois. Now it turns out those clues were just red herrings or weren't what they seemed to be. The obsession was actually Mxyzptlk's anger that Superman "abandoned" him and the Lois stuff was a side effect of his brainwashing. The real clues were things that seemed trivial, like "Clark's" love for candy (not something that I can recall being associated with Mxyzptlk before) and his old timey, out of place phrases. Almost nothing that "Clark" did in all those issues was really relevant, other than him fixing Superman's secret identity problem.

But anyway, onwards. Going forward, it is nice to see Mxyzptlk as an antagonist again after so many years. And I really liked the backup story. It's kind of amazing how Paul Dini came up with a simple, human explanation for something that is really the product of awkward fourth wall breaking behind the scenes stuff. Maybe Superman thought that Mxyzptlk had finally grown up. Bravo, Jon.

[brucekent12]

I originally thought that mystery Clark was one of those robots our Clark used to appear when Clark needed to be Superman at the same time Clark was needed. Feel kind of stupid, Mxy never entered my mind. I read something earlier today, that Mxy has been seen twice, in Morrison's first arc of the New 52, and then in Johns arc. Does anyone remember what issue that would have been in? I cannot remember that for the life of me.

[Patrick Gerard]

I don't remember Mxy in the Johns arc off the top of my head.

He didn't really "appear" in Grant's run, exactly. He was a character in a story his girlfriend told Superman. Which may or may not be 100% reliable and definitely didn't involve meeting Superman.

Any meeting between New 52 Superman and Mxyzptlk is pretty much at the same fringes of continuity that the two Eel O'Briens or the New 52 Challengers of the Unknown are at. It would almost have to be a MENTION or a flashback rather than a true appearance.

[PyroTwilight]

Dunno. I feel like this whole issue just seems to be trying to make sense when it doesn't. Mxy being the same Mxy over all of history is simply not true and nonsensical.

Time not being linear for 5th dimensional beings? I could buy it sure, but it's largely been presented as such pretty much forever. With 5th dimensional imps simply having some awareness of the timeline and the ability to travel through it. IE Mxy being vaguely aware of the coming Infinite Crisis in "Vengeance" and using it to prepare Superman (and Batman).

[PyroTwilight]

If it ends as strongly as it has begun it may be one of the best Superman stories ever written. Ever since Convergence began everything in regards to Post-Crisis Superman coming back has been intricate yet tightly woven across many titles. For a company that is constantly mired in continuity errors and nonsensical retcons this one has truly been inspired and well executed. Not since Hush, Under The Red Hood, and Batman RIP have I been so looking forward to Wednesday for the next issue of a story. So well done DC. Well done indeed.

Exactly what has happened in Superman: Reborn to make it meh to OK let alone "one of the best Superman stories ever written"? I really just am not getting it. This is one of the most nonsense arcs I've seen in a long while. And nonsense CAN be fun. I like Mxy and the goofyness usually. But this? It's making me question if I should drop all Super titles and just ignore them (in my case Superwoman and Super Sons, I'm also reading New Super-Man but that's separate enough to keep going with)

But it's a story that by most readers understanding (given the Mxy "appearance" or reference in Action Comics) begins by outright ignoring prior continuity. And then beginning a nonsense retcon of Mxy having all been the same Mxy regardless of continuity...SOMEHOW.

DC: Look, he's Mxy!
Me: OK, and?
DC: LOOOOOK

[Miles To Go]

But this? It's making me question if I should drop all Super titles and just ignore them

See you Wednesday, next week, next month, and next year

(Seriously, I wish people would learn to stop saying this. They never mean it)

[666MasterOfPuppets]

spoilers:

Seems very likely

end of spoilers

Well, sh*t.

Haven't read either Super-Man or Superwoman yet, BTW.

[666MasterOfPuppets]

MAJOR SPOILER FROM SUPERWOMAN:

https://cdn.bleedingcool.net/wp-cont...-1-600x919.jpg

spoilers:

It's confirmed New 52 Lois is Pre-Flashpoint Lois. It's confirmed they will become whole again. It's been confirmed the Universe will re-arrange itself.

end of spoilers

So merger it is, then. Oh well. I'll have to start my "resignation and adaptation process", then. I'll have to give some of those post-reborn issues a shot, just to see if they hook me. Doesn't mean I'll forgive DC for what they did to Nuperman.

I hope they aren't lazy with how they write it in the next 2 issues of reborn.

But you are aware that is a possibility, right?

[spirit2011]

See you Wednesday, next week, next month, and next year

(Seriously, I wish people would learn to stop saying this. They never mean it)

same old story right?

what is on superwoman looks nothing of what is going on in superman reborn

[666MasterOfPuppets]

Man, American Alien was good, but I can never, ever read that page without picturing a teary-eyed Landis slapping his hands on his keyboard and screaming "LOVE ME, GRANT! LOVE ME!"

HA! Hadn't thought about it. Good one, dispenser.

[PyroTwilight]

See you Wednesday, next week, next month, and next year

(Seriously, I wish people would learn to stop saying this. They never mean it)

Well, considering I was only barely reading the Super titles before Rebirth...it really isn't hard. Superwoman and New Super-Man were two of my favorite Rebirth books and the only real Super titles I was reading.

For example I read some X-Books (specifically Messiah Complex) and was so turned off by them that I still haven't actually bought more than a handful of comics from them since because I was so dissapointed with it, and that was over a decade ago. I don't make idle jokes about it with the wealth of books out there.

Now if someone were to say they'd give up all comics because of one thing then yeah, I'd find that ridiculous too. But this? Way easy.